Ghost Haunt
by Omness
Summary: Due to a bet, Terra must spend time in the creepiest house in the neighborhood. However, it turns out he's not alone as something keeps playing tricks on him.


"Tell me Ven, why am I doing this?" Terra asked. Staring at the supposed haunted mansion with distaste.

Ven grinned, "Because you were dared to and you can't back out on a double-dog dare bet without severe repercussions!"

Terra sighed, "Ghosts aren't even real, so I don't even see the point of going in."

"C'mon Terra." Aqua cajoled. "You'll only be in there for a few hours, so hop to it."

With another sigh Terra took the flashlight offered him and headed up the front porch steps and opened the squeaky front door. He then turned back towards his two friends. "Just remember how much you two owe me once this is over." He warned, then entered the house, slamming the door behind him. This caused the whole house to shake and leaves to fall from the gutter.

Once Terra was officially gone, Aqua and Ven retreated back down the walkway with matching conspiring grins. They reached Terra's beat-up green car and Ventus's smile became uncertain, "Are you sure this will work Aqua?" he worried.

Aqua's smile fell but was replaced with determination. "It has to. Terra was terrified of ghosts as a child, and I can't imagine he's stopped. If this doesn't get him to scream in terror I don't know what will."

Inside the mansion, Terra found himself within a large vestibule. Everything was covered in dust and several of the floorboards were rotted away. Out of curiosity, he patted a mouse-eaten seat cushion and coughed at the amount of dust that puffed out. The mansion was surprisingly dark, but Terra supposed that the windows hadn't been cleaned since the house had been abandoned. Flicking on the flashlight and swinging it around the room revealed an extravagant set of doors across from the entrance and curving staircases on either side that lead to the second floor.

Rather than spend his allocated three hours sitting around the foyer, Terra decided to check out the mansion. After all, how often would he get to be in a place as fancy as this? Even if it was rundown. Wary that the stairs might collapse under him, Terra decided to explore the first floor. As he reached the doors a cold breeze from somewhere blew across him and caused him to shiver. Terra thought he heard a sinister laugh, but brushed it off as his imagination.

The next room was huge but rather bare. There was some broken down furniture and an occasional painting hanging along the wall. It certainly didn't seem like much. Until he looked up. The ceiling had been painted with a beautiful fresco depicting angels and mostly naked people cavorting in a meadow. The ceiling also had what must have been a dozen chandeliers hanging down. Terra stared in amazement; the room must have looked beautiful when they were lit with the crystals casting rainbows across the whole room.

When he had finished taking in the ceiling Terra decided it was time to head to another room. Two-thirds of the way to a door in the left-hand corner something landed on his shoulder and clattered to the floor. Terra scanned the ground for it, finding one of the chandeliers crystals lying a few feet away. Looking up he was alarmed to see a chandelier swaying dangerously. The ceiling around the fixture cracking and with each swing the chandelier dropped down a few feet.

"Oh crap." Terra took off at a run for the door. The light from the flashlight bouncing wildly along the walls. When Terra reached the door there was a resounding crash. Without pausing to look behind him, Terra pulled open the door, charged in and yanked it shut. Just as he did there was a large amount of clattering as the pieces of the chandelier hit the door.

Terra leaned his head against the door, taking in deep heavy breaths. "That was close." He murmured. Once he recovered, Terra pushed himself up. He should move on, he still had two and a half hours left in the house and he would prove to Aqua and Ven that he wasn't scared of anything no matter what they tried to do.

Turning around, Terra found himself in a hallway with several doors leading to different rooms. With a shrug he began walking towards the first door, planning on peeking into each when he heard a strange rattling noise. The hairs on the back of Terra's neck rose, but he ignored the feeling and glanced into the first door. Behind it was a small but heavily furnished sitting room. As he closed the door, he heard the sound again. This time he recognized it as the sound of someone rattling a doorknob in order to open a locked door. But no one was here, or no one should be.

"Aqua? Ven?" Terra called. He shined the light on each door trying to determine which one the sound came from. The door rattled again and this time he spotted it. A couple doors down and to the left.

"Don't think you can scare me with such simple tricks guys." He said. Terra thought he heard a snort of amusement in response.

Terra grabbed the doorknob, turning it quickly and flinging the door open. "Gotcha!" He yelled.

But no one was there.

Unfazed he entered the room, searching for potential spots where his friends could have hidden. The main feature of the room was an old-fashioned phone that sat on a heavy wooden table near a wall. Not seeing any of his friends under the table, Terra began circling the room in search of them.

"Ven, Aqua. I know you're in here." Terra called. But there was no response. He was looking in a closet that contained a single shoe when the door that he had left open slammed shut. Terra jumped, barely holding in a yelp.

Terra growled. "You're not going to scare me like that!"

Just then Terra's phone pinged. Checking it revealed a text from Aqua that read, ' _If you get scared, you can join me and Ven for cocoa."_ Attached was a photo of the two leaning against the green paint of his car with mugs in their hands. Terra paled.

"Ghosts aren't real." He whispered. "It was just the wind." Even if he hadn't felt a single draft while he was in the hallway.

Gathering up his courage Terra continued to search the house. The entire time he moved around, there were small things happening that suggested he wasn't alone. Like chairs being moved in the dining room with a high scraping sound. The sound of footsteps and things falling inexplicably in his way. Nothing life-threatening like the chandelier falling happened again, but nonetheless Terra's nerves were fraying. Insisting to himself that there were no such thing as ghosts only got him so far.

Eventually Terra wandered into a washroom. He turned on the faucet and was surprised to see that there was still running water. He set the flashlight down and splashed some water on his face in hopes of calming down. When he opened his eyes after wiping the water from them, the flashlight was flickering. He glared at the offending object. He was sick of this, it was like someone was trying to taunt him rather than scare him. "Stop." He commanded.

To his surprise, it did. The flashlight beacon remaining steady. But then it began flickering again in a series of short and long flashes.

"I am not!" Terra exclaimed. He then reached out for the faucet handle and turned it viciously, accidentally snapping it off. "Crud."

The flashlight flashed in sequence again.

"Oh, shut it!" Terra growled then grabbed the offending object so he could look at the pipes under the sink.

Regarding the pipes Terra was surprised that the sink still worked with how rusted they were. When he reached to turn the water off Terra bumped the pipe, freeing it from its casing and spraying water everywhere.

"Frick!" he yelled. Using his other hand to try and block the water from his eyes, Terra blindly grasped for the knob and turned it off, stopping the flow of water.

Terra stood up and sighed. He was soaked. He reached down and grabbed the edges of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, hoping to wring out some of the water.

"God. I wish I could rub my face against those abs." A distinctly masculine voice proclaimed.

"What." Terra deadpanned.

There was a moment of silence. "Did I say that out loud?"

Terra crossed his arm and stared at himself in the mirror, wet T-shirt hanging from one hand. "You did. Now show yourself."

There was a feeling of hesitance in the air, but then the voice responded. "Fine."

Without warning, Terra found himself staring into a pair of yellow eyes. With a manly squeal, Terra jumped back.

"Who are you?" he demanded. The boy that sat on the sink in front of him was about Ven's age. But despite this similarity his black hair and yellow eyes gave him a menacing air.

The boy smirked at Terra's reaction, "I believe the polite thing to do is to introduce yourself when you enter someone's home."

Terra relaxed from his nervous stance, hands dropping to his sides. "This is your home?"

"I live here don't I?" The boy's eyes flashed with anger and… pain?

Terra felt guilty, he hadn't meant to intrude. "Ah, I'm Terra. It's nice to meet you." He offered his hand for a shake but the boy merely stared at it.

"Vanitas." The boy responded.

"You're not going to shake my hand?" Terra asked, slightly offended as he pulled his hand back.

Vanitas quirked an eyebrow. "I'm a ghost, I can't interact with humans." To prove his point, he brought his hand up as if to stroke Terra's cheek. But when his fingers should have made contact, they instead passed through Terra's jaw, causing him to jerk his head away.

"You're freezing!" Terra exclaimed.

Vanitas shrugged, "Comes with not really being alive, I guess."

"Oh."

Terra went to the side of the sink so he could wring out his shirt. Vanitas looked on with interest, staring with such intensity at Terra's arms that it brought a faint blush to his cheeks.

"There are towels in the cupboard over there." Vanitas offered, indicating the cupboard with a hand. "One of them might be good enough for you to use."

"Ah, thanks."

Terra hung his shirt on the sink and looked into the indicated cupboard to find a family of mice living at the top of the ratty towels. He carefully set those towels aside and began searching for the least offensive towel.

"So if you can't interact with anything, how were all those things moving earlier?" Terra asked and turned around, towel in hand, just in time to catch the end of an eye roll.

"I said I can't interact with _humans_ , idiot. I can move objects around just fine, see?" With that statement Vanitas batted at the broken faucet handle sitting on the sink, causing it to fall to the floor.

Terra rubbed vigorously at his hair with the towel. "Stop calling me an idiot! I am not."

Vanitas leaned back and gave another eye roll. "Just because you know Morse code doesn't mean you're not an idiot."

A huff escaped Terra's lips and he kneeled down to wipe up the water on the floor. There was a minute of silence as Vanitas stared at the muscles moving on Terra's back. He had thousands of questions, but didn't know how to ask them. After a minute of awkward silence, Terra spoke. "I've never talked to a ghost before."

To Terra's surprise, Vanitas didn't grace him with another eye roll. Instead he placed his chin in his hands and murmured. "I haven't spoken with anyone since I've become a ghost."

Terra looked up incredulous, "Seriously? How long have you been a ghost?"

"Hmmm. Maybe, eighty years or so?" Vanitas said, unsure of himself.

"What have you been doing all that time?" Terra asked, amazed.

Vanitas shrugged, "Tormenting poor losers like you who decided to check out the local haunted spot. Why are you here anyway? Trying to impress your blue-haired girlfriend out there?" He leered.

"Aqua?" Terra questioned, returning to mopping up the floor. "She's not my girlfriend."

"You dating the blond one then?" Vanitas questioned.

Terra snorted, "No way, Ven and I are like brothers." He then went on to explain how he was in the mansion on a bet. If he could stay in here without getting scared, then his friends would owe him money.

Just as he finished his explanation, Terra also finished wiping the floor, he stood and grabbed his shirt from the sink, replacing it with the towel. He was just about to put on his shirt when Vanitas reached out a hand to stop him.

"No, wait." He said, his hand passing through Terra's wrist. "Leave it off." Vanitas then bit his lip before letting out a choked "Please?"

Terra studied the ghost boy before him. If he looked closely it was possible to see the sink and mirror behind him. Where before he had held an arrogant posture and had no qualms about insulting Terra, he now looked nervous. His shoulders were hunched and his chin tucked in. It was not in this boy's nature to say please.

Terra sighed, "Fine, but you have to show me around your mansion in return. I'll freeze if I'm not moving."

Vanitas head whipped up, instead of being tucked in it was now tilted back arrogantly, a wicked smile on his face. "Deal."

The tour of the mansion went above and beyond what Terra expected. Not only did Vanitas describe the origins of various paintings, furniture, and architecture, he also told various anecdotes about his family related to the rooms. Like how his cousin-twice removed managed to convince a whole party of people that he was dead. It wasn't until the doctor showed up that they realized what was going on. Or the one time his aunt decided to become a mime and refused to speak, acting out all her conversations instead. Or the time his grandfather let loose a huge fart in the middle of dinner with some important investors. Every time Terra laughed a glint would appear in Vanitas' eyes and a corner of his mouth would quirk up as if pleased with himself.

In the middle of a story about Vanitas's brother trying to distract a priest by seducing him, Terra happened to glance at his watch.

"Crud! Is that the time?" Terra exclaimed.

Vanitas stared at Terra's watch with fascination. "Is something wrong?"

"I was supposed to head back out and meet Aqua and Ven fifteen minutes ago!"

For a split second Vanitas's face crumpled before he tilted it back with a small smirk. "Then I'll guide you back, I'm sure you would be lost without me."

The way back to the vestibule was silent. Vanitas had switched to gliding in front of Terra, shoulders slightly hunched instead of walking beside him. Terra finally had his shirt back on, but was uncertain what to say. Despite the tricks he had played when Terra had first entered, Vanitas seemed disappointed to see him go.

"Here we are." Vanitas said in monotone, gesturing towards the front door. "Better get out there and show your friends that you're not a scaredy-cat."

"Vanitas." Terra uttered. "Can I come back and visit you again?"

Vanitas was already drifting away and turned to face him in wide-eyed shock. "You want to come back and see me? Truly?"

Terra nodded as seriously as he could. "Truly."

Outside Aqua and Ventus kept checking their phones nervously. Terra should have been out long ago, but there were no sign of him.

"You don't think he's hurt do you?" Aqua worried.

"I don't know." Ven replied. "Maybe he just got so scared he fainted!" he said brightly.

"That's unlikely." Aqua murmured, chewing on her bottom lip. "We should go in and check on him."

"What if he's just planning to prank us once we go in?"

"That's a risk we'll have to take." Aqua said with determination, opening up Terra's car door and heading towards the front gate. "Come on Ven!" she called. "Better to be safe than sorry!"

Just as Terra was reaching for the doorknob to leave when the door was flung open and slammed into his face, sending him reeling. He distinctly heard Vanitas chuckle before the sound was drowned out by Ven yelling "Terra! You're okay!" Before Terra could reply he was wrapped up in a bear hug.

"I was so worried!" Aqua exclaimed. "I thought you might've been bleeding out somewhere and when we found you it would be too late! What happened to your nose?"

Terra lowered the hand that had been clutching his nose in pain and gave a watery smile. "It's nothing. And I'm fine, I had Vanitas guide me around." He gestured over to where Vanitas was standing a few feet away, giving a polite smile.

Both Ven and Aqua followed Terra's gesture, then scanned the room in confusion before looking back at him.

"There's no one there?" Aqua questioned.

"You're not trying to trick us are you?" Ven accused.

Himself confused, Terra glanced over at Vanitas, who shrugged and mouthed, 'Not me.'

Terra shrugged too. "Nevermind guys. Let's head out and maybe I'll use that money you two owe me to buy us a pizza."

Terra shuffled his friends out ahead of him then waved one last goodbye to Vanitas, promising to be back soon.

Out on the sidewalk Aqua spoke, "You know, I really thought that would work. You were terrified of ghosts as a kid. You couldn't even watch Casper the Friendly Ghost without having nightmares."

"What can I say?" Terra said, slinging his arms around his two friends' shoulders. "That was years ago. Besides, ghosts aren't so bad once you get to know them."

Aqua and Ven didn't comment on the way Terra phrased his sentence, instead arguing over whether they should get pizza or burgers as they got into Terra's car and drove away.


End file.
